For 12 years, Andy Robertson chased the senior individual international championship medal that always seemed just out of reach. He finished fourth at the 2017 European Indoor Championships and missed the podium again in 2021. But his big moment came in 2025 when he claimed bronze at the European Indoor Championships. Now, just over a year later, the 2x British indoor champion has announced that he will retire from athletics.

On July 3, Robertson shared the news on Instagram, revealing that he has just three races left before bringing the curtain down on his career. He will compete at Dagenham on August 15, Lee Valley on August 29, and Trafford on August 31, which will be the final race of his athletics journey.

“Trafford will be my last ever race as I’ll be retiring from athletics,” he wrote. “Let’s finish this career on a high!!!”

The announcement follows an impressive season, where the 35-year-old showed he was still a high-level performer. Robertson won the 60m at the Aarhus Sprint’n’Jump meeting in Denmark in 6.59 seconds, qualifying for the World Athletics Indoor Championships and earning another Great Britain selection.

He later won his heat at the Novuna UK Athletics Indoor Championships at 6.75, before going on to race in the outdoor season – claiming his 100m victory at Lee Valley in July at 10.44. While 2026 was the end of his career, his big break came the previous year in Apeldoorn.

After years of near misses, he finally stood on the podium with bronze in the men’s 60m at the 2025 European Indoor Championships, earning the first senior individual international medal of his career. The medal carried special meaning for the British sprinter, who admitted afterward, “I really wanted this European medal. It was something I knew I was capable of.”

Andy Robertson also revealed that the breakthrough came after changing the way he approached the sport. Instead of placing pressure on himself every time he raced, he learned to be more patient and appreciate the journey. “My mentality has changed over the years. I think the older you get, the more you relax and appreciate it. I’ve learned to be more patient in life and to take one step at a time.” That mindset had been shaped by a journey that began many years earlier.

The journey behind Andy Robertson’s career

Andy Robertson’s athletics journey began with inspiration from one of sprinting’s greatest names. As a young athlete, he looked up to American legend Maurice Greene, whom he credits for sparking his love for the sport. “Maurice Greene would have been my perfect training partner. He was the reason I got into sprinting when I was young.”

Robertson’s passion guided him through the ranks of British athletics. His first international experience was at the 2007 European Youth Olympic Festival and Great Britain’s involvement in the European U20 and U23 Championships. He has since emerged as one of Britain’s leading sprinters, and has won the 60m at the British indoor championships twice- in 2019 and 2020.

His greatest success was in 2024 when he was coached by Alex O’Gorman, who has focused on improving his sprinting technique. Robertson remarked that he had always been the “Road Runner” relying on rapid leg turnover rather than stride length. His mechanics were sharpened, and he clocked a legal 10.19 on 100m, his best time since five years ago, which he carried into his breakout indoor season.

However, in 2025, his dream fell apart disappointingly when he got injured during the 60m heats at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in the city of Nanjing. The failure did not deter Robertson, and he was determined to make a comeback for the outdoor season and believed he could eventually shatter the 10-second mark in the 100m.

In retrospect, Andy Robertson’s career was built on perseverance, not on instant success.